NHS staff warn of ward round ‘neglect’

Patients are left languishing in hospital beds without proper information or co-ordinated treatment because ward rounds are too often neglected, doctors and nurses say. Hospitals are overstretched by increasing numbers of elderly patients and the ward rounds have been eroded in recent years.

Patients are caused “anxiety and distress” because staff do not co-ordinate care between doctors, nurses and other professionals, the colleges say. That can lead to delays, mistakes in medication and even to “do not resuscitate” notices being wrongly used. Staff need to see patients as people rather than conditions…